After hesitating for a moment, Xinyuan finally replied, "I have calculated his fate. This child has a deadly calamity in his destiny, yet he managed to evade it..."
...
In Underground Street, Xu Qing hurried into the coffin shop nearby, eagerly taking out the scale from his bosom.
Originally, Xu Qing had little understanding of Heavenly Materials and Earthly Treasures, but ever since disciples from the Celestial Master's Mansion frequently sought him for funerals, he learned much from these 'old corpses'.
A thousand years ago, the Celestial Master's Mansion was also a renowned righteous sect, a formidable force in the mortal world for expelling demons and supporting the right path.
To this day, although the Celestial Master's Mansion has deteriorated from its roots, the records in its library remain unchanged.
Besides the Celestial Master's Mansion, Hu Baosong, who had traveled the world for nearly a century, was also an encyclopedia.
Others include the Water Worker Daoist, the Medicinal Corpses of the Hundred Infant Tower, and the avatars of the nameless old woman...
The knowledge of these individuals is like an invisible treasure trove, allowing Xu Qing to understand the world without leaving home and to see the way of heaven without glimpsing through a window.
Today, looking at the cyan dragon scale containing pure spiritual power before him, Xu Qing had already identified its origin.
"The Four Divine Lords, the Cyan Dragon being foremost. The scales of the Cyan Dragon can defend the celestial barrier, align the mysteries, act as the legendary Hundred Scale Key to unlock the Dragon Palace's Water Mansion, and also be used as medicine to expel impurities, clarifying the three treasures."
Xu Qing's index finger extended a corpse nail an inch, cutting across the scale, which immediately sprouted azure golden patterns, becoming harder than mysterious iron and as flexible as silkworm silk.
Even with Xu Qing's left hand, which had completely cultivated the Undying Bone, it couldn't be scratched.
This is precisely the characteristic of the Cyan Dragon's scales to defend the celestial barrier. It is said that in ancient times, armor refiners could incorporate dragon scales into Dharma Robes, making them impervious to thunder and fire, and causing ghosts and demons to retreat.
Xu Qing then took out three copper coins, tossing them into the hollow of the dragon scale, and began divining the time when the old Fox Demon of Yunmeng Mountain would escape the seal using the Turtle Shell divination method.
Now that the Heaven-Reaching Road was severed and the celestial beings ignored the mortal realm, the balance of yin and yang was lost, and it was only a matter of time before the seal of White Cloud Cave would be broken by that old vixen.
Lord Yuan had once warned Xu Qing that, given his level of cultivation, he was no match for that Celestial Fox.
It was only by chance that Xu Qing, using the Dream Creation Skill, managed to sever an avatar of the old Fox Demon; later, Xuan Yu dealt another blow, severing yet another avatar.
These two encounters inflicted significant physical and psychological trauma on the Celestial Fox.
According to Lord Yuan, for the opponent to break the prohibition casually placed by the Celestial Emperor, it would take at least a decade of recovery before preparing to break the seal again.
All of this would accumulate to nearly a century of turnaround time.
However, Xu Qing didn't trust Lord Yuan's words, just like he wouldn't trust the old woman who deceived him and Xuan Yu. In his eyes, everything these 'deities' did was to complete the grand game of this major era.
He and Xuan Yu were merely pawns in the eyes of the opponent.
Xu Qing didn't fear being a pawn, but he didn't like being a pawn held in someone else's hand.
If, by any chance, that old monkey and the old woman had laid a trap in White Cloud Cave to force his move, wouldn't that make him appear foolish?
Borrowing the ability to align the mysteries from the Cyan Dragon's scale, Xu Qing used the incense from the Blood Lake to stimulate the Power of Four Seasons Stars contained within, beginning to divine.
In the coffin shop, a star map emerged from the dragon scale in Xu Qing's hand.
On the star map, a Cyan Dragon sang long and clear.
As the star map covered the entire shop, the small coffin shop had become a world unto itself.
Awakening of Insects hung at the eaves, Summer Solstice fell at the portal, Autumn Equinox induced tidal changes, while Great Cold made the peach trees frost over...
Xu Qing used the scale as a board, observing its light flickering, divining the movement of constellations.
In that instant, he was like the Cyan Dragon emerging from the rift, soaring to the nine heavens, opening his eyes to overlook the world, traversing thousands of miles of mountains and rivers, through the cold and heat of the seasons, witnessing the White Cloud Cave Mansion crumbling twelve years later.
Exactly a cyclical number.
Xu Qing's face instantly turned grim.
That old monkey indeed had ill intentions!
According to what the opponent said, it would take the Celestial Fox over a decade just to heal its injuries, let alone break the seal of White Cloud Cave.
But now, the insight from the Cyan Dragon scale told him that the Celestial Fox would break free in twelve years.
Considering the enmity with the old vixen, Xu Qing had no doubt that once it broke free, it would first come after him and Xuan Yu.
Thankfully, Xu Qing always kept this matter in mind. If it were someone with a less attentive personality, they might not even realize it when an enemy came knocking on their door.
"Twelve years..."
Xu Qing felt that he couldn't be passive about this; in these twelve years, he must come up with a solution, either by reinforcing the seal of White Cloud Cave or by preemptively finding a method to restrain the Celestial Fox and block its way!
"If one could study the Tiangang Axe to around the thirtieth level, perhaps it could deal with that old vixen."
Xu Qing was preparing for a rainy day, calculating future plans in his mind, while once again looking at the cyan scale in his hand.
According to the records in the Celestial Master's Mansion, apart from mastering the order of the mystic palm, the Cyan Dragon Scale also has the ability to open the Water Mansion of the Dragon Palace.
Which means that all aquatic creatures' cave dwellings in the water cannot block the passage of the Cyan Dragon.
This function currently holds little value for Xu Qing. Although there is a harbor in Jin Sect, he has never considered venturing out to sea.
Apart from being the key of a hundred scales, the cyan dragon scale in front of him also has a pharmacological effect of nurturing the soul and enlightening wisdom.
The Cyan Dragon Scale contains the green energy of the virtue of wood, which can keep the mind of a mortal clear and pure all year round.
If a cultivator possesses it, they can place the scale in a furnace to refine elixirs, significantly enhancing the medicinal properties of herbs inside the furnace.
If a scholar uses the scale as a pendant, they will have a photographic memory and an ever-vigilant mind...
If a remarkable craftsman acquires the scale, refines it into a cyan jade, when the artifact emerges, withered trees will sprout, and springs will gush forth from barren land, defying the path of heaven...
However, divine objects have a spirit. The Cyan Dragon Scale embodies the essence of heaven and earth. If taken by force, its charm will dissipate into the universe. Only those that fall by themselves possess the profound power to see through the heavens and earth. Therefore, the scales of a true dragon are rare as stars, and those without virtue can hardly glimpse them...
Xu Qing took out the blood-stained dragon scale he had picked up in the Baisha River region.
Comparing the two, it turns out the latter possesses even more charm.
As for why he was recognized by the cyan scale, Xu Qing thought it was most likely because he had also saved two golden carps and had the true blood of the Cyan Dragon within him.
He carefully put away the dragon scale, while paying more attention to Chen Liu'Er.
This child is too sensible. To repay the life-saving grace, he gave him the precious cyan scale. Xu Qing felt very gratified in his heart.
Although it was a passive repayment, that is not important.
The child is still young, he was just temporarily safeguarding it for the child. By the time the child grows up, he might have long forgotten about this scale!
Xu Qing, though seemingly indifferent, did not take Chen Liu'Er's belongings for free.
The purpose of the golden carp boy and the golden carp girl giving Chen Liu'Er the cyan dragon scale, Xu Qing could largely guess.
These little fellows probably wanted the Cyan Dragon Scale to serve as Chen Liu'Er's amulet, as the most basic function of the Cyan Dragon Scale is to ward off external evils, protecting the wearer from being watched by demons and monsters.
However, Chen Liu'Er's safety is constantly monitored by living beings, and Xu Qing can easily resolve some minor crises through incense fire in the Dharma Realm, so there is no need for the dragon scale as an amulet.
On the contrary, when faced with a crisis that cannot be resolved, Xu Qing, who masters the charm of the Cyan Dragon, can instead unleash the greatest power of the cyan scale.
As the sun moved westward, when Xu Qing was about to get up and leave the coffin shop, he found that all the potted plants in the shop had sprouted tender green buds, dripping with jade-like freshness.
Yet it is early winter, and Xu Qing had not used any techniques to speed up or induce flowering...
"The Cyan Dragon controls the order of the four seasons, this is the Spring Order."
With insight, Xu Qing stepped towards the back courtyard, where lilies were blooming and kumquats were fruiting along the way.
"This is the Summer Order, the Autumn Order, and then there's..."
When he saw the large peach tree in the back courtyard, covered in frost with a peach-clad woman coldly rubbing her hands and breathing into them, Xu Qing silently withdrew the words "Winter Order."
"It is just the beginning of winter, how has it suddenly become colder than the coldest days of winter..."
Tao Sanmei looked at the dummy pretending to be human in front of her: "Aren't you cold?"
Xu Qing felt the temperature around him and raised an eyebrow: "On such a sunny day, how could it be cold? Perhaps you caught a cold?"
A cold? Can I, a thousand-year-old tree demon, catch a cold?
Tao Sanmei was about to speak but suddenly felt the warmth return around her.
In the blink of an eye, the temperature was back to normal.
"Eh? Why is it not cold anymore."
Xu Qing clicked his tongue and said: "Sudden cold and heat, if not a heat cold, it might be a chill. I'll prepare some herbal decoctions for you tomorrow, pour it on you, after all, you are my mourning band employee, can't afford to lose work due to illness..."
Tao Sanmei looked at Xu Qing, who spoke with conviction, and then looked at the sky with some doubt.
For her, who adapts seamlessly to the solar terms, could she really have caught a cold?
...